Differences And Similarities Between Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is a sixteenth century play featuring two star-crossed lovers doomed for eternity. This is a brief summary of how Shakespeare portrayed his play before any real dialogue was composed. Not only is Romeo and Juliet the most well known play that Shakespeare wrote, but the first play he drafted displaying romantic love. In many people's opinions Romeo is one of the pivotal characters of the whole play. Comparisons can be made between Romeo and Tybalt as I personally believe they both hold a significance throughout the drama. Each persona has a contrasting personality that is clearly shown during the whole of the theatre piece. In this essay I am going to describe and define the differences and similarities between Shakespeare's

portrayal of Tybalt and Romeo and the reasons why he has done this.

Act 1 scene 1 is the first time we meet both characters. A psychological experiment showed that first impressions are a significant factor of understanding a character. At the beginning of the play, Shakespeare portrays Tybalt as an aggressive individual. I know this, as he states “What, drawn, and talk of peace? I hate the word, as I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee. Have at thee, coward!” Not only does he preach his opinions, and hence emits his arrogant side, but Shakespeare's use of exclamation marks accompanied by his aggressive speech confirms the reader's opinion that Shakespeare purposely represents Tybalt of being a belligerent entity. In comparison, Romeo at the start is presented as a love struck person who is not receiving anything in return. Romeo exclaims in his metaphorical language “Love is bright smoke, cold fire, sick health.” Firstly, this demonstrates that Romeo finds love confusing. Secondly, I would like to point out that each clause is an oxymoron. I believe Shakespeare intentionally did this to show the contrast in the meaning of love and furthermore how love can be described in different ways. In my opinion Romeo is portrayed as a passionate person in contrast to Tybalt who outwardly declares his hate for peace and desire to cause havoc.

Tybalt is a very loyal character compared to Romeo who is very fickle.

I know Tybalt is Loyal because in act 1 scene 5, Tybalt proclaims “What, dares the slave. Come hither, cover'd with an antic face, to fleer and scorn at our solemnity? Now, by the stock and honor of my kin.” As you can see he states that by honour of his family he will kill him, this shows his commitment to his family. To prove that Romeo is fickle, evidence can be found during act 1 when he declares his love for two different women according to who he is with at the time. Initially his love was devoted to Rosalind “That will only make me think more about how beautiful she is” whereas once his eyes set upon Juliet, his affections change as per the following quote, in scene 5 “Her beauty is too good for this world; she’s too beautiful to die and be buried. She outshines the other women like a white dove in the middle of a flock of crows.” Here Shakespeare cleverly uses a simile to compare Juliet to Rosalind; this is to emphasise that Romeo is still young, naive and easily influenced. I believe that Shakespeare has written the character Romeo still with a theme of conflict to engage the audience but at the same time supply the audience with a deeper understanding of the two sides of his personality. Interestingly both Romeo and Tybalt share the softer loyal side of their personality as shown

above.

Both characters can be viewed as significant to the play. Romeo being the main character, it
means the play revolves around his words and actions. Inevitably many people consider Tybalt to be a secondary character however personally I believe his role may be considered one of the pivotal roles. I quote a stage direction written in act 3 scene 1 “Tybalt falls and dies” In correspondence with the quote if he did not exist then Romeo would not be exiled from Verona and hence providing a possibility that he would not kill himself. Shakespeare uses Tybalt as an obstacle in Romeo's life, henceforth he portrays each character as polar opposites so then angst can be formed.

In conclusion Tybalt and Romeo each have a rather different personality, and I believe Shakespeare knowingly did this to create tension between both characters. Romeo’s character displays forgiveness, fickleness and finally love sick whereas Tybalt displays loyalty, anger and violence.